The Sean “Diddy” Combs trial is almost over. Of the five counts against Diddy, the jury has reportedly already been unanimous in their decision for 4 counts.
People reports that the jury has not yet read the verdict in court. The charges Diddy is facing are two counts of sex trafficking, two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, and one count of racketeering. The jury is still split on that final count of racketeering.
The racketeering charge was always going to be the hardest count for the prosecutors to get over the hill. In a note released to the court, the jurors apparently have “unpersuadable opinions” on both sides of the count. The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
It’s by far the most serious charge Diddy faces — not in terms of severity to his alleged victims, but in how deeply criminality was allegedly entrenched in his organization. The U.S. government introduced the racketeering law in the 1970s to clamp down on organized crime, targeting the mafia’s use of arson, extortion, and murder to keep operations running. That’s probably why prosecutors brought Kid Cudi to the stand to testify about how Diddy allegedly blew up his car.
Kid Cudi was 1 among the 34 witnesses that the prosecution called up to the stand over the entire trial. The other notable witnesses also included Cassie Ventura and Jane Doe, who gave elaborate testimonies on how Diddy managed to lure them into his infamous “freak offs” using manipulation and threats.
The last-minute withdrawal of some key accusations by the prosecution might have contributed to the jury’s split, but that remains to be seen. Neither the prosecution nor the defense is against further jury deliberation, but the prosecution is reportedly asking the judge to issue an Allen charge, urging the jury to reach a quicker verdict. The defense, reportedly against this, is signaling which legal team feels more confident right now.
The defense has not been inviting a lot of confidence from observers lately. During the closing arguments, Diddy’s daughters were even spotted leaving the courthouse in tears because of how dire and irredeemable the situation seemed. To be fair to the lawyers, however, Diddy didn’t make their job any easier. He reportedly didn’t even have 1 witness who could come forward in defense of him and back up his claims that his “freak offs” were indeed consensual as he claims.
The final verdict of this case will come any day now. It’s impossible to come up with a conclusive date because it’s quite literally unpredictable, but it’s very likely that Diddy will be found guilty of at least one count. Furthermore, lawsuits against Diddy are still streaming in — so for the rest of his foreseeable future, he’ll just be getting shuttled from courthouse to courthouse. And these new accusations are not civil suits either, they’re also criminal cases.
As things stand, Diddy’s career in the public eye is seemingly over. All that remains now is whether he’ll see out that fallout inside prison or not.
